Known locally as ‘Jenning’s Castle’, this remarkably well-preserved five-storey tower house dates from the late 16th or 17th century, when it was built by the de Burgo family. The rectangular structure, measuring 12.2 metres in length and 9.8 metres in width, rises from a stone plinth and represents one of the finest examples of tower house architecture in North Galway. The building has been a National Monument since being taken into state ownership, ensuring its preservation for future generations.

The castle’s defensive features reveal much about the turbulent times in which it was built. The main entrance, a finely dressed pointed arch doorway near the northern end of the east wall, appears to be a 17th-century modification and is flanked by two small loops that may have served as gun ports, though evidence of iron hinges suggests one was once protected by an iron grill. The doorway leads to a lobby that provides access to a guardroom and the main chamber, whilst an intramural staircase connects to a spiral stairway in the southeast corner. Semicircular machicolations defend all four corners of the building, with the northeastern example extending along the east wall to protect the entrance below. Both gables survive to their original height, rising within the parapets, with chimney stacks emerging from the west gable and north wall.

Inside, the castle’s layout follows a typical tower house design with some interesting quirks. The ground floor contains a main chamber and guardroom, whilst the first floor features both a main chamber and a subsidiary eastern room; the upper floors each contain single large chambers. A stone vault separates the first and second floors, concealing a small hidden chamber within its structure. The building contains several intramural passages, including one in the south wall on the first floor and another in the north wall on the second floor that leads to a garderobe. Fireplaces warm the main chambers, positioned in the north wall on the first three floors and in the west gable on the fourth floor; notably, the second-floor fireplace was a later addition, inserted into what was originally a twin-light ogee-headed window. The windows themselves vary from simple defensive slits to more elaborate square twin-light mullioned windows with hood mouldings, showing the balance between defence and comfort that characterised these late medieval residences. A covered well sits immediately south of the tower, whilst a ha-ha ditch runs approximately 200 metres to the east and south, remnants of the castle’s original defensive landscape.